Attitudes towards depression and symptoms of depression among Polish and British adults

Introduction. Depression is a mental illness widespread in the population and is the most common mental disorder. There has been an increase in number of depression diagnoses among the wider population in the past few years. Aim. The aim of the study was to gain knowledge regarding the attitudes towards depression and to measure the occurrence of depression symptoms among open populations of Polish and British people. Materials and methods. The study was conducted from March to May 2015 by posting an electronic survey on a social network in Polish and English language. 143 completed questionnaires were obtained. The method of diagnostic survey was used in this study. The research tools was a survey created by the authors and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results. Every third respondent acknowledged that they have a sufficient knowledge of depression. Based on BDI results, 75% of Poles and 39% of British did not show any signs of depression. Conclusions. The British understand the term “depression” correctly more often than Poles. The inhabitants of Poland and Great Britain take a positive attitude towards people with depression. The British have depressive symptoms more frequently than Poles. Nationality and age do not affect the severity of depressive symptoms in both groups.